High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly

"In just seven years - from 1950 through 1956 - Grace Kelly embarked on a whirlwind career that included roles in eleven movies. From the principled Amy Fowler Kane in High Noon to the thrillseeking Frances Stevens of To Catch a Thief, Grace established herself as one of Hollywood's most talented actresses and iconic beauties. Her astonishing career lasted until her retirement at age twenty-six, when she withdrew from stage and screen to marry a European monarch and became a modern, working princess and mother." "Based on never-before-published or quoted interviews with Grace and those conducted over many years with her friends and colleagues - from costars James Stewart and Cary Grant to director Alfred Hitchcock - as well as many documents disclosed by her children for the first time, acclaimed biographer Donald Spoto explores the transformation of a convent schoolgirl to New York model, successful television actress, Oscar-winning movie star, and beloved royal." As the princess requested, Spoto waited twenty-five years after her death to write this biography. Now, with honesty and insight, High Society reveals the truth of Grace Kelly's personal life, the men she loved, the men she didn't, and what lay behind the facade of her fairy-tale life.

Drawing on his unprecedented access to Grace Kelly, bestselling biographer Donald Spoto at last offers an intimate, honest, and authoritative portrait of one of Hollywood's legendary actresses.

Publishers Weekly

In bringing noted film historian Spoto's biography of the late actress and monarch to life, George K. Wilson takes a natural, understated, unfussy approach in keeping with Kelly's own performing technique. Given Spoto's background, it comes as no surprise that the material focuses largely on Kelly's professional career, downplaying salacious elements of her celebrity. Wilson, therefore, must confine his displays of emotional fire to a few key points along the journey. Noteworthy characterizations include the legendary director Alfred Hitchcock—who viewed Kelly as his muse—in all of his gruff eccentricity and the brilliant but notoriously tyrannical filmmaker John Ford. Wilson also scores in his portrayal of Kelly's demanding parents, who discouraged her interest in show business. A Harmony hardcover (Reviews, July 13). (Jan.)

DONALD SPOTO is the author of twenty-five books, including bestselling biographies of Alfred Hitchcock, Tennessee Williams, Laurence Olivier, Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman, and Audrey Hepburn. He earned his Ph.D. degree from Fordham University. Spoto is married to the Danish school administrator Ole Flemming Larsen; they live in a quiet village, an hour’s drive from Copenhagen.